Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems have been deployed to increase the capacity of existing fiber optic networks. In a WDM system, plural optical signal channels are carried over a single optical fiber with each channel being assigned a particular wavelength. Such systems typically include a plurality of receivers, each detecting a respective channel by effectively filtering out the remaining channels.
Optical channels in a WDM system are frequently transmitted over silica based optical fibers, which typically have relatively low loss at wavelengths within a range of 1525 nm to 1580 nm. WDM optical signal channels at wavelengths within this low loss “window” can be transmitted over distances of approximately 50 km without significant attenuation. For distances beyond 50 km, however, optical amplifiers are required to compensate for optical fiber loss.
Optical amplifiers have been developed which include an optical fiber doped with erbium. The erbium-doped fiber is “pumped” with light at a selected wavelength, e.g., 980 nm, to provide amplification or gain at wavelengths within the low loss window of the optical fiber. However, erbium doped fiber amplifiers do not uniformly amplify light within the spectral region of 1525 to 1580 nm. For example, an optical channel at a wavelength of 1540 nm, for example, is typically amplified 4 dB more than an optical channel at a wavelength of 1555 nm. While such a large variation in gain can be tolerated for a system with only one optical amplifier, it cannot be tolerated for a system with plural optical amplifiers or numerous, narrowly-spaced optical channels. In these environments, much of the pump power supplies energy for amplifying light at the high gain wavelengths rather than amplifying the low gain wavelengths. As a result, low gain wavelengths suffer excessive noise accumulation after propagating through several amplifiers.
Conventional gain flattened amplifiers have been developed, but such amplifiers typically include discrete components, which can be relatively expensive. Moreover, many optical amplifiers include components to flatten a particular gain spectrum. Such components, however, are not variable and thus may not be effective in flattening the gain spectrum of another amplifier. Thus, a unique component must be designed and manufactured for each amplifier.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tunable optical filter having a variable response or transmission characteristic which can be used to flatten multiple gain spectra. Such a filter may have other applications where a programmable filter spectral response is desired. Preferably, the tunable optical filter should have a compact design.